//------------------------------// // The Rest of the Story // Story: Treason // by Trevosta //------------------------------// The Rest of the Story Rainbow Dash awoke early the next morning, she was excited, but she should be. This was the day that she had been waiting for her whole life. Nothing could ruin her mood, because today she left for Wonderbolt tryouts. Tomorrow would be the day that she actually tried out, and then would find out if she made it. Who was she kidding? There was no 'if's about it. She would be a Wonderbolt by the end of tomorrow. She went through her routine once, and executed it flawlessly. She continued to practice, throwing more complicated challenges into the mix, such as, clouds, fog, cross breeze, and any other hindrance that she could think of. Every time she did it effortlessly. But she managed to exhaust herself, so she took a shower, ate breakfast, and headed over to Thunderclaw's apartment, to spent the last few hours before she left with him. ----------------------------------- Applejack walked though the fields, thinking about her friend, when she stumbled across the clearing where Geronimo and Rainbow Dash practiced. Geronimo was sitting in the middle of the clearing. She trotted over to him and leaned her head against him. "Ya thinkin' 'bout her too?" she asked her coltfriend. "Yeah, and you just missed the show." she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "She came over here and practiced for a few hours, she just left." "Don't worry, Ah'm sure she'll do fine" Applejack assured him. "Oh, I'm not worried." he said, "she has more raw ability than any of the Wonderbolts, and she has one of the best flight routines I have ever seen." he looked into Applejack's eyes. "And I doubt she wants to see me eat my ear." Applejack just shook her head. ----------------------------------- It was still early in the day, but Pinkie Pie had organized a small farewell party, one to show her friend how much they all cared for her. It was over before noon, and as soon as it had finished, Rainbow took off into the sky, anticipating the next two day's events. Today, she needed to get to Cloudsdale, where the Wonderbolts would hold primary elimination rounds, she figured that they would just be speed and agility tests, but whatever they were, she could handle them. She put on a confident smile and flapped hard. She hadn't realized before how much her extra training did, but she quickly discovered new strength as she almost immediately formed a mach cone. The experience of such astronomical acceleration, was phenomenal, and she laughed extremely hard. She flew high into the atmosphere, and broke the sound barrier, with the least amount of energy that she had ever used to do so. She then put her wings out and went into a supersonic glide. She would be in Cloudsdale in no time at all. ----------------------------------- Applejack and Geronimo had gone back to the farm and were now working. "Hey, A.J.," Geronimo called, "I've got a headache, so I'm gonna go get some medicine." "Sure thing, Sugarcube." she called back. Geronimo went into the kitchen of the farmhouse and pulled out the bottle of pills that the doctor had given him at the Hospital, which he knew were running low. He dumped the last pill out of the bottle, "Great." he said, rather annoyed, "Now what am I gonna do?" then he realized something. "I have an idea!" He grabbed some things and went back out towards the field, he knew that Applejack would be too busy applebucking to look at him, but he still hid the package slightly. As he approached where his marefriend was working in the field he shouted over to her, "Hey! Where does that zebra live?" "Why?" she called, between kicks. "I need more migraine medicine, and she seems like a good call." he yelled. "Oh, she lives in the Everfree Forest." she said, and called specific directions. "Thanks, Sugar!" he yelled, before he ran off into town, toward the forest. --------------------------------- Rainbow Dash arrived in Cloudsdale way earlier than she expected, but still after the Wonderbolt tryout room had opened, so she decided to go and check out the competition. She entered the room and saw some of the other early arrivals, some ponies, she recognized from the Best Young Fliers competition, and a few ponies she had never seen before. She decided to sit back and watch some of them prepare. She started laughing quietly, realizing that a few weeks ago, she would've been scared to death by how prepared these ponies looked. Now she looked at them as though they were foals, horribly out of their league. She was lost in her thoughts when somepony approached her. "Hey, Rainbow Cr-, uh I mean, Dash. You trying out too?" she glanced over to see one of the guys who was a jerk to her and Fluttershy. Hoops, was it? Yeah, that was it. "So... Are you going to do your Sonic Rainboom, and show us all up?" She laughed slightly. "That's just me going fast." She said, waving her hoof through the air. "They already know I can do that, my routine is something that will show what else I can do." "So, does this mean that the rest of us have a chance?" he said, his voice filling up with hope. She started rolling with laughter, pulling attention from the other hopefuls. Then she looked at him and quietly said, "If you could pull off my routine, I would cut off my tail, take up knitting, and knit you a hat out of it." He looked at her with horror covering his face. The butterflies in his stomach were becoming wasps as he realized the implications of what she was saying. "Oh... ok... I, uh, will just go over, uh, somewhere... Else..." he said as he wandered away. Rainbow did some stretching, and pretty soon, the doors to her future were opened. Rainbow felt confident and walked through the doors. ---------------------------------- Geronimo trotted towards the forest, but, as he was on the way he ran into the little purple lizard-guy. Who burped out a small jet of flame when he fell. "Whoa!" Geronimo shouted, scrambling away from the small reptile. "Sorry! That happens when I get surprised." he reasoned. "Are you a dragon?" the little guy nodded, "Awesome! Now I gotta keep going." he said, picking up the bag that he had dropped and taking off. ------------------------------------ Zecora was adding some final touches to the brew she was working on, when she heard hoofbeats coming down her path. She looked up from the broth as it was bubbling to perfection. She pushed the kettle off of the fire and opened the door for her visitor. "You're somepony I haven't met, For, you've a face I could not forget." She said to him ushering him inside. "Hi I'm Geronimo, and you're Zecora, right?" she nodded. "I have a few things to ask of you. I was told that you are excellent with medicine, potions, and natural remedies. I am in need of your help with two things." he pulled out his bottle that should have painkillers in it. "I ran out of headache medicine, and was hoping that you could get me some new stuff." he then pulled out some bits, "I can pay." "I have the remedy you seek I made this batch just this week." She passed him the potion. "Look, here comes the awkward part," he said, rubbing his neck with his hoof. "I want you to see if you can, how do I say this?" He was pacing, trying to think of the right wording. "Can you try to reattach my wings?" She stepped back, confusion and horror covering her face. He then pulled the wings out of the bag, "These were taken from me during battle, using magically enhanced claws, and I was wondering if maybe you could at least see if it was possible." She looked over the wings, and examined the stumps on his back before she said; "I have seen this spell before And an antidote, what's more. I might just give you the cure, But it could leave you very sore." She warned, but he didn't care. "I have probably felt worse pain than it can cause anyway." She hesitantly began to prepare the new brew to fix Geronimo's wings. ----------------------------------- Rainbow Dash had made it through the first heat of elimination. 'Made it through', was not the right term, neither was 'passed'. The best fitting term would be, 'dominated.' The hopefuls were divided into groups, then they were pitted against each other in a race. The qualifiers were then re-grouped, and re-tested, until the group had shrunk to one-third the original size. Rainbow was the only one to be first in each of her heats. She felt extremely confident, there was no way she could lose. And in the next elimination system, an obstacle course, she helped to solidify her place as the next Wonderbolt. She was just as successful in the obstacle course, as she was in the head-to-head races. She excelled, and was currently awaiting the letter that gave her a place in private tryouts the following day. All of the hopefuls were staying in the same hotel, arranged by the Wonderbolt's trainers, so that they would know which room to deliver acceptance letters to. Rainbow was currently laying on her bed, trying to get some sleep, but it wasn't working. She wasn't tired, all of the other contestants were exhausted, but not her. Today had been like one of the easier practices with Geronimo; so, if all of the others were struggling as much as they seemed to be, she would have no problem beating all of them tomorrow. She was thinking about her routine, and she started to go through it in her mind, while doing all of the required wing movements in real life, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Her heart started beating faster as she approached. She turned the knob, and there was Fleetfoot, with a letter for her. "Here you go Miss Dash." she said with a smile, while giving Rainbow the letter. Rainbow had never been so excited in her life. "We can't wait to see what you've come up with." Fleetfoot said, before walking down the hall. Dash ran into her room and ripped open the letter. She scoured the page, to find her tryout number. When she finally saw it, her heart sank slightly. She was number 25, the last one to try out. There was nothing worse than going last, because everypony else would have gone before her, they would judge her based on how everypony else did. Then she got to thinking, what if they had picked her last, because she was the best, and give the others a bit of a chance? She liked that thought, and with those happy thoughts bouncing around in her head, she went to sleep. --------------------------------- Zecora was now applying the salve that she had mixed up. She had made the brew into a topical ointment, to rejoin limbs. The biggest problem, however, was that it needed to be applied to a fresh wound, so she needed to cut open both Geronimo's wing stumps, and the severed end of the wings, to be able to properly reattach the appendages. The salve was now applied, and it stung. It felt like millions of wasps were eating away at his wings. Zecora was chanting something in Zebrican, but even if he could've understood it, Geronimo was in too much pain to listen. He fought unconsciousness, harder than he had fought anything in his life. He was being proven wrong, horribly wrong. This was quickly escalating to becoming the worst pain he had ever felt. He couldn't tell if he was hearing drums, or his own heartbeat accompanying Zecora's singing. Suddenly; however, all sounds seemed to stop, all of his senses became muted, and he lost his battle with unconsciousness, as it took him over. --------------------------------- The next morning, Applejack was in panic. There was something terribly wrong. Geronimo always came back to the house, but last night, he didn't. She scoured the entire orchard, looking for her coltfriend, but he wasn't on the property. She began running through town, asking all of her friends if they had seen him, but none of them had. She was running out of ideas, so she began recruiting ponies to help in her search, and soon, her four friends, spike, and herself, were scanning the town for any signs of the stallion. ---------------------------------- Rainbow Dash flew to the Cloudosseum, passing many of her competitors along the way, they were all flying like they were sore, and tired. She laughed and flew slightly faster, not fast enough to break the sound barrier, but fast. She arrived, showed her letter, and was escorted into the waiting room, where all of the other contestants were slowly arriving. After they were all there, Spitfire and Soarin walked into the room, smiling. Spitfire began, "Congratulations! All of you! You are the 25 best fliers in the world right now, but we only have room for one more on the team." at this Rainbow Dash smiled. Soarin then spoke up, "So, this is what is going to happen, you are each going to come out, into the Cloudosseum, where you will perform your routine for us. We will then direct you out one of the doors, and get back to you later on if you did or didn't make the team." he said, looking around the room, "Everypony understand?" they all voiced their agreement and the Wonderbolts walked into the stadium. ----------------------------------- Geronimo rolled over in his sleep, and felt a sensation he hadn't felt in years, he felt his wing twist underneath of him. He bolted awake, finding himself lying on a mat in Zecora's house. He looked at his back, and saw one of the greatest sights that he had seen in years, he saw his wings. He ruffled the feathers, and they followed suit. He adjusted them, and they adjusted. For the first time in eight years, he was about to stretch his wings. He flexed the muscles that extended his wings, and... Screamed. His muscles had atrophied, and were now causing him extreme pain. He realized that he wouldn't even be able to use them without months of physical therapy, but he needed to try. He brought himself to his hooves as Zecora trotted in, and handed him a bowl filled with something, and told him to drink it. He was hesitant at first, but after all she had done for him he decided to trust her. He took a deep swig of the potion, and immediately felt the strength returning to his wings, he stretched them and felt the muscles do what they should. He flapped them once, and although not as strong as they used to be, he felt himself lift off the ground. He laughed and leapt for joy, giddy as a foal earning their cutie mark. "You, ma'am are a miracle worker. You should write a book. The world needs this knowledge." he said, looking into her eyes. "Now if you will excuse me, I must be off." He said as he gave her a small pouch full of bits and took off towards town. ---------------------------------- Rainbow Dash had watched all of the other competitors proceed to their tryouts, but the way the room was set up, one couldn't watch the competition, but there was no way that any of them were going to be half as good as Rainbow, she was sure of it even as she flew into the monstrous stadium. "Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire called from the judges' booth. "Can't wait to see what you've come up with!" she said, lifting her pencil to her notepad. Rainbow took a deep breath, this was the moment she had been waiting for her whole life, and so, she began. She executed the routine as flawlessly as she ever had, and after it was over she landed, looking up at the ponies she had always looked up to, awaiting their judgement. They whispered among themselves, for what felt like forever, Rainbow was sweating. Eventually they seemed to reach an agreement, and Soarin looked at Rainbow with a smile, "Go though those doors over there, the ones to the left." She flew over to the doors he had pointed out, and when she went through them, she noticed that something seemed off. Instead of leaving the stadium, like she expected, she wandered into a room, lined with lockers. "Uuuuhh... I think that I'm in the wrong room." she said, before backing towards the door. "What are you doing?" Spitfire asked, walking through the door, with the rest of the team in tow. "I, uh, was, uh j-just leaving. I th-think I came through the wrong door." she stammered. "No, you are in the right place." Spitfire assured Rainbow Dash, "Welcome to the Wonderbolt locker room." Rainbow Dash's eyes became huge, as she looked around. "Welcome to the team." Soarin said to her. Dash felt lightheaded, did he really just say that? She was in a bit of a daze while they showed her around the place, and assigned her a locker. "Now we gotta get you fitted," Spitfire said, "Now, can you get my measuring tape, and some string from my locker?" Rainbow, still dazed, walked over to Spitfire's locker and opened it. When she opened it she was greeted with pictures of Spitfire and Soarin. She scanned the inside of the locker, looking for the measuring gear, until her eyes settled on another picture. "Uuuuhh... Spitfire? Why do you have this picture in here?" "Which one?" she asked walking over to her locker. Rainbow pointed to the one she was talking about. "Oh, haha. Yeah, I used to have a huge crush on him. You know about the 51st squadron, right?" Rainbow nodded. "Geronimo was my private teacher." Soarin looked up from the pie that he was eating, "That explains a lot." Spitfire gestured back to the stallion in the picture, "He was their leader, he was the best flier ever, but he went down in battle." Spitfire looked disappointed. "I have pictures of most of the 51st, but I could never find one of Geronimo for some reason..." she sort of zoned out, "Anyway, he was always my favorite." she said, gesturing at the picture in the locker, "Why did you ask?" Rainbow mumbled something, "What was that?" Spitfire asked. "H-he was m-my..." she looked around slightly uncomfortable, "He was my brother." she said, looking at the familiar blue eyes, and cocky grin, in his air force flight suit . "What?!" all of the Wonderbolts said in unison. "Your brother was Spectrum Dash?!" Spitfire yelled. Then a smile spread across her face. "Was he as great as everypony said he was?" then something struck her. "Oh, well this makes the last few minutes really awkward." she said with blush spreading across her face. "I will just, uh, do this." she grabbed her measuring equipment and closed the locker, "So, anyway, let's get you measured." After measuring Rainbow Dash for her new uniform they told her she was free to do what she wanted for two hours, then meet the team back at the locker room for scheduling. Rainbow realized that she was starving, so she headed out for lunch. ---------------------------------- Geronimo was busy with the surprise that she had planned for Rainbow Dash's return. If everything turned out the way he wanted, this would be one of the greatest surprises ever. He couldn't get over the feeling of flying again. It felt great. He kept all of the advice that he had shared with his students over the years in mind. He was having a bit of trouble; however, remembering weather control. How does one make a thunderhead again? He did the most logical thing he could think of and started packing together fluffy white clouds. As he did, they began to darken. The storm was starting to come together nicely over the Everfree forest. Now he just had to wait for Rainbow's return. ----------------------------------- Rainbow was eating lunch at a small outdoor diner, but she felt like somepony was watching her. She kept looking for the pony who was watching her, and eventually she found them. There were two ponies at a table not far away. One was a mare with a blue coat, yellow mane, and her cutie mark was a pair of wings and a halo. The other was a white Stallion with a red mane, and cutie mark of a flaming arrow. The two ponies kept glancing at Rainbow and whispering. She was becoming horribly uncomfortable. Until she looked towards them and noticed they were gone. She took a deep breath and went back to her lunch, until... "Um, excuse me?" she heard a female voice say, making Rainbow jump. "Oh, sorry, uh would you happen to be Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow turned to the voice and saw the blue mare from earlier standing next to the stallion. The mare was actually very pretty, and her voice was smooth. "Uh, yeah, why? Have you heard of me?" Rainbow said, confidently. The mare laughed, and the stallion spoke up, in an accent much like Rarity's, "You could say that. I am Red Arrow, and this is Blue Angel." Blue Arrow smiled and waved. "We were part of the 51st, with your brother." Blue Angel then said, with remorse, "We are so sorry about what happened." "Yeah, thanks, I understand." Rainbow said. "So how's he doing?" "What?" Rainbow said confused, "He died." Blue Angel gasped, and Red Arrow asked, "When did that happen?" "Uh, you were there, it was on your last mission." Rainbow explained. The two other ponies looked at each other and then back at Rainbow. Blue Angel then said, "Who told you that?" Rainbow was now confused and uncomfortable, "Uh, Geronimo did, he has been training me for the past few weeks." The others were even more confused now. "Miss Dash, Geronimo died on that mission, your brother survived."